1 – Chan Sung Jung
Zombie. At this point, that’s all you need to say to an MMA fan and they’ll just nod in agreement. And once again, Mr. Jung delivered the excitement, this time with a 58-second knockout of Renato Moicano. It was a major statement, because while “The Korean Zombie” has always delivered memorable performances, he needed to get a win over a top five contender like Moicano to prove that he’s not just an action fighter, but a title threat. Would you mind seeing him against Max Holloway, Frankie Edgar or Alexander Volkanovski? I know I would.
 

2 – Randy Brown
This is the Randy Brown those of us on the east coast were waiting for. Yes, the New Yorker has shown glimpses of his potential over the course of his first seven UFC bouts, but on Saturday, “Rudeboy” put it all together with a third-round TKO of the always tough Bryan Barberena. Now with that out of the way, it’s time for Brown to move forward and start chasing down the top 15 of the welterweight division.

3 – Andrea Lee
There really is no logical explanation why Andrea Lee is 3-0 in the UFC right now. Yes, she’s an ultra-talented fighter, but after a tumultuous year outside the Octagon, how could that not affect her on fight night? But she’s pulled it off, keeping her focus as she scored 2019 victories over Ashlee Evans-Smith and Montana De La Rosa. And while it may be slightly early to start this kind of talk, maybe by the end of the year, she’ll be knocking on the door of a flyweight title shot.

4 – Dan Ige 
Saturday night’s card was stacked with outstanding performances, and it was tough coming up with just five winners for this list. Deron Winn and Eric Spicely went to war for 15 minutes, Andre Ewell and Luis Pena delivered impressive efforts, and how can you not love “Meatball” Molly McCann? But maybe the most low-key member of Saturday’s card – Dan Ige – made the loudest noise with his hard-fought win over Kevin Aguilar. Ige lost his UFC debut to Julio Arce in early 2018, but since then, he’s pounded out four wins in a row, and he continues to be a must-see in a stacked division. More Dynamite Dan, I say.

5 – Jairzinho Rozenstruik 
We didn’t get to see a lot of Jairzinho Rozenstruik, but in his nine-second destruction of Allen Crowder, he continued to up his status in a heavyweight division that can always use exciting new blood. And with back-to-back knockout wins, the Suriname native certainly fits that description. Is it too much to put him with a top 15 heavyweight the next time out? Certainly not.

Here’s a look at the action set to hit the cage Tuesday in Las Vegas.

Miguel Baeza (6-0) vs. Victor Reyna (10-3, 1 NC)

Baeza was originally paired up with Ramiz Brahimaj, but an injury to the LFA fixture forced him out of the main event, opening the door for Reyna to step up in his place.

Nicknamed “Caramel Thunder,” Baeza trains at MMA Masters in South Florida and has put together a perfect 6-0 record in a little under three years as a pro, earning all but one of his victories by technical knockout due to strikes. Standing six-foot-two, he has size for the division and utilizes that height and reach well, but now after working his way through the lower levels of the regional ranks, it’s time for Baeza to show he can hang with stiffer competition in hopes of getting the call to the Octagon.

The 32-year-old Reyna has forged a solid career for himself on the Texas regional circuit, having won nine of his last 12 fights. During that stretch, his two setbacks have come against familiar names to UFC fans, as he lost to rising middleweight hopeful Kevin Holland before dropping a unanimous decision to Ultimate Figther alum Marc Stevens.

This is the type of test Baeza needs to ace in order to prove he’s ready to compete at the UFC level — a challenging pairing against a more experienced opponent and one coming in on short notice, no less. For Reyna, it’s an unexpected chance to topple an unbeaten prospect and impress the UFC brass.

Alton Cunningham (7-1) vs. Tony Johnson (7-2)

Cunningham is back for a second straight season, eager to make up for his first-round stoppage loss to Bevon Lewis last year. After arriving on a five-fight winning streak, the 25-year-old rebounded from his first career loss by picking up a pair of stoppage victories to close out the year and carry his record to 7-1 overall.

Training out of Pura Vida BJJ/MMA in Milwaukee alongside fellow Contender Series alum Montel Jackson, “The Bo-Man” looks to follow the same path blazed by current Top 15 light heavyweight Ryan Spann, who lost his first appearance on the show, rebounded with two victories, collected a quick finish in his second Contender Series appearance and has since gone on to post consecutive wins inside the Octagon.

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Standing in his way is Johnson, a 36-year-old fighting out of San Jose, California who went 5-2 before shifting his focus to competing under the Big Knockout Boxing banner, where he was the company’s cruiserweight champion. He returned to MMA in September 2017 with a second-round stoppage win and scored another victory last October to send him into this week’s penultimate pairing on a three-fight winning streak.

Will Cunningham rise to the occasion and collect an impressive stoppage win or will Johnson spoil his second chance?

Zach Zane (12-7) vs. Justin Gonzales (9-0)

Featherweight hopefuls meet in the middle bout of the evening as the 29-year-old Zane locks up with the undefeated Gonzales in what could be the most intriguing matchup on the card.

Don’t let Zane’s spotty record fool you — after starting his career with just three wins in his first 10 fights, the Hawaiian has rebounded to win eight straight heading into Tuesday’s matchup with Gonzales, showcasing solid power, slick submissions and strong finishing instincts.

As for Gonzales, thus far he’s handled his business every time out, registering nine straight victories as a pro after amassing an 8-0 record on the amateur circuit. While all of his amateur triumphs came by way of stoppage, the Greeley, Colorado native has gone the distance in five of his nine pro bouts, so conditioning and the ability to grind out things out in the late stages shouldn’t be an issue if it comes to it.

At first blush, many will pass this off as an opportunity for Gonzales to get another win and push his unbeaten streak into double digits, but Zane has righted the ship and should give his undefeated opponent everything he can handle on Tuesday night at the UFC Apex.

Michael Lombardo (8-1) vs. Kyle Daukaus (6-0)

Daukaus is the one of the most intriguing prospects on this week’s card as he arrives in Las Vegas with an unbeaten record and fresh off a third-round submission victory over UFC vet Jonavin Webb at CFFC 72 in February.

After working out the kinks over a 5-5 run as an amateur, the 26-year-old middleweight upstart has been perfect as a professional, steadily facing stiffer competition on the always tough East Coast regional circuit. Though Webb didn’t have any success in his two-fight stint under the UFC banner, the 30-year-old was 12-0 outside of the Octagon prior to facing Daukaus in February, which highlights what an impressive victory it was for the emerging hopeful.

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Looking to halt his unbeaten run and use this opportunity to catapult himself into the UFC middleweight ranks is Lombardo, a 29-year-old fighting out of Coconut Creek, Florida, who enters on a five-fight winning streak. 

Daukaus is definitely the one coming in with all the hype and momentum, but will he be able to maintain that and make his way to the UFC or will Lombardo upset the apple cart and prove to be a legitimate middleweight prospect himself?

Miles Johns (8-0) vs. Richie Santiago (7-1)

Week 2 was supposed to be opened and closed by Fortis MMA products, but with Ramiz Brahimaj falling out of the main event with an injury, Johns is left to fly solo for the Dallas-based team that has used the Contender Series to graduate numerous fighters to the UFC.

The undefeated bantamweight has faced a steady diet of tough competition under the LFA banner over the last couple years, culminating in a split decision win over Adrian Yanez in a bout for the vacant bantamweight title last November. Having seen numerous teammates make the same trip to Las Vegas and come back with UFC contracts, you can be sure “Chapo” will be physically and mentally prepared to start Week 2 off with a bang.

Fighting out of Tri-Force MMA and representing the emerging collection of New England-area fighters on the rise, Santiago hopes to spoil Johns’ journey to Las Vegas by collecting his eighth win in nine starts and putting himself in the mix to secure a contract at the end of the night.

After suffering the first loss of his career early last year, “The Milford Mauler” rebounded nicely with a first-round submission win in November. If he can add another finish to his resume on Tuesday, Santiago could find himself fighting in the Octagon next time out.

Much was made of Winn’s wrestling heading into into his UFC debut but it was his striking that helped him secure a unanimous decision win. Spicely, who took the fight on short notice, showed his toughness and willingness to trade punches in the pocket.

Both Winn and Spicely landed plenty of powerful shots but UFC Greenville was Winn’s time to shine. The American Kickboxing Academy product closed the distance early and often, attacking Spicely with quick combos to head and body.

$50,000 and a victory isn’t a bad way to start your UFC career.

Jung ducked a shot thrown by Moicano and reacted with a perfectly time right that caught Moicano on the button. Moments later Jung poured on a flurry of strikes that overwhelmed Moicano and sent the Bon Secours Arena into a frenzy.

The performance immediately puts Jung into a short list of featherweights that are close to a title shot. One more win over a top five guy would likely do the trick. And with exciting fighters like Alexander Volkanovski, Brian Ortega, and Jose Aldo ahead of him, any match-up is almost guaranteed fireworks.

Jung has seven UFC fights, seven performance bonuses. The Korean Zombie doesn’t disappoint.

Ashley Yoder wasn’t thinking about Amanda Cooper waiting to put a fist in her face or about snapping a three-fight losing streak as the Octagon door shut in Denver, Colorado last November. She was just happy to be there. Seriously.

You couldn’t blame her, considering everything it took to arrive at that moment, from her coach Ricardo Feliciano not being able to make it to Colorado in time to mishaps backstage that had to make Yoder wonder if the MMA Gods were conspiring against her.

“It was very chaotic,” she said. “It was a success that they even shut the cage door. I got cut in the back by my coach when he was wrapping my hands and I was bleeding all over the place. My clothes were wrong, it was just all bad.”

But when that door did shut and the fight with Cooper did happen, Yoder put it all aside and went to work. And after three rounds, her hand was raised in the Octagon for the first time. It was a great moment for 31-year-old. Well, you would assume it was.

“It was bittersweet for me because there were so many things going on the backside of that fight, it was bittersweet in the fact that I’m a better fighter than I performed, but at the same time, I overcame a lot of things that were going on up until they closed the cage door,” she said. “No excuse on that side of it, but I really, really tried to perfect every side of my MMA aspect and I wanted to bring that to the cage, but we have our times when we’re either on or off, and luckily, I didn’t get the finish, but I got the decision. So it was definitely bittersweet.”

Ashley, getting that win was more sweet than bitter.

She laughs.

“You’re right. I’m blessed and I love my job and I hope I continue to perform for the fans.”

Performing for the fans has never been an issue for the Indiana native. Getting the judges to be as impressed as the fans is another story.

“Win, lose or draw, no matter what, I don’t dwell on a win, I don’t dwell on a loss,” she said. “I just want to be the best Ashley and learn the most. I came into the game without a background. Most people had been doing some kind of martial arts their whole life. Me, I was like anger management, jumping into it just to release some stress and I made it this far. So now it’s a passion to learn new things. It’s a passion to learn wrestling, a passion to learn different things in jiu-jitsu. It’s like an accelerated program for me because I have to catch up on things I didn’t have, but I’m so blessed to be where I’m at and I love to be able to perform and I’m excited.”

It’s hard to believe that the affable Yoder would ever need anger management, but when you find out that it all stemmed from the tragic loss of her brother in a motorcycle accident when he was just 20 years old. Yoder was celebrating her 18th birthday that day, and it understandably hit her hard. It also changed her life forever.

“I lost my brother and that’s kind of what got me started into fighting,” Yoder said. “And I actually lost him on my birthday. It was rough when it happened, but I wouldn’t be the person I am today without the hardships that I’ve been through. I’ve never been in a streetfight before that. It made me who I am and you can be sad and take it the sympathetic way or you can find strength in it and grow from it. I don’t know where I got that from, hopefully from my mom or my dad, but it’s something where I didn’t want to be that person everybody felt sorry for and then you didn’t do anything with your life. So I sucked it up and here I am, getting punched in the face for a living. And I’m loving it. (Laughs) I was a swimmer and a cheerleader. I never thought I would be a fighter.”

But here she is. A fighter.

And yes, we may claim Font as a New Yorker now. But I digress. Let’s go back to the reality that it takes plenty of heart and grit to make it to the UFC and then to succeed there. But all fighters are human, too, and Font found that out the first time he faced John Lineker in Brazil back in 2016.

“It was hard to admit at the time, but I was playing to the crowd way too much,” said Font of the UFC 198 bout, which he lost via unanimous decision. “I was way too hyped coming out and I wasn’t doing things the way I needed to do, and I paid for it. Once they started chanting, I let them get in my head a little bit and I lost focus.” 

The “Uh Vai Morrer” chants were bad enough to distract Font. Then came the green shirt.

Green shirt?

“I remember losing focus and this green shirt kept popping in my eyes in the crowd,” he said. “I was like, ‘What am I doing, pay attention, pay attention.’ I kept seeing this green shirt and I lost focus.” 

Font can laugh about it now, but there is a part of him that still stings when talking about the fight, which ended an 11-fight winning streak and handed him his first UFC loss.

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“I wasn’t there, it wasn’t me,” he said. “It was hard to admit, but it definitely affected me and I won’t let that happen again.”

Three years and six fights later, the No. 12-ranked Font gets to prove it when he meets Lineker for a second time in Saturday’s UFC Fight Night co-main event. It wasn’t the original plan for the 31-year-old from Woburn, but when Cody Stamann was forced out of the bout due to injury and Lineker’s name was tossed in the mix, the New Englander was all in.

“He (Stamann) wasn’t as highly ranked as Lineker is and he has that wrestling style that’s always been kind of annoying for ugly, boring fights,” said Font. “But now I get a rematch and an entertaining fighter in Lineker, who always brings it, so I think there’s gonna be fireworks.”

It’s almost what we expect, not just from Font and the Brazilian dubbed “Hands of Stone,” but from the entire bantamweight division which is delivering excitement in the Octagon seemingly every weekend there’s a fight card. This was never more evident than at UFC 238 earlier this month, when some of the top 135-pounders in the world were showcased. 

Font, who was in Chicago to work with his teammate Calvin Kattar, got to watch it all go down after Kattar stopped Ricardo Lamas in the first round.

“I’m not the biggest Aljamain Sterling fan, but I was impressed with his win,” Font said, recapping the bantamweight action. “He was real busy, he threw some hands and he put on a show against (Pedro) Munhoz, who is tough as hell. The Petr Yan-(Jimmie) Rivera fight was super entertaining and you can’t hate on Henry Cejudo. What he did in that fight was amazing. He showed real grit, showed real toughness and he showed why he’s the double-champ. So it was a good night.”

A good night which means good things for the division moving forward, as there are so many intriguing fights and fighters that a big win or two can mean a major upgrade in the future.

“It’s definitely heading in a good direction,” said Font, winner of six of his nine UFC bouts. “Most of us ‘35ers are one or two fights from being in that title talk. The division’s so tough that one L can set you back, but you can come right back with two big Ws, so I’m excited and I can’t wait for the next fight I’ve got coming up.”

That’s all he’s discussing at the moment, showing that he has learned some valuable lessons from his night in Curitiba in 2016. 

“I’m taking it fight by fight,” Font said. “I made that mistake with him the first time. I was thinking about what I could get from beating a guy like Lineker and I focused way too much on that instead of just beating Lineker. I won’t do that again. I’m not even worried about what’s going on. As for after this fight, I’ll let (manager) Tyson (Chartier) handle that.”